Canada seeks traces of doomed Arctic expedition

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Appealing to national sovereignty and
the spirit of exploration, Canada launched a search on Friday
for the ships of the doomed 1845 Franklin expedition that was
seeking the fabled Northwest Passage.

The British ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror were trapped in
the Arctic ice as Sir John Franklin sought to chart a northern
route from the Atlantic to the Pacific, to reach the Far East.

He and his 128 crew died and rescue expeditions never found
his ships.

"Canada will now embark on its own journey ... (on) the
search for these two vessels, which has the allure of an
Indiana Jones mystery," Environment Minister John Baird told a
news conference.

Using oral history from the native Inuit to provide clues
where to look, a team will fly out on Saturday to join a
Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker that will use sonar equipment
to search an area south of King William Island in Nunavut.

Though the ships have not been detected, traces of 70 crew
members -- many of whom started trekking overland in
desperation -- have been found. Research has suggested they
suffered from lead poisoning from canned food, and Inuit
stories tell of cannibalism among the doomed crew.

The expedition inspired Dan Simmons' historical novel "The
Terror" last year and a series of earlier books.

Beyond the historical interest, Baird said it was important
for Canada's drive to assert its sovereignty over the Arctic
regions in a variety of ways -- historically, environmentally,
militarily and in terms of resource use.
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